Robin Harper and Harry Wakefield earned a bronze medal at the Malta International 2024 as they reached the last four.
The men’s doubles duo lost out to the top seeds Torjus Flaatten and Begard Rikheim of Norway in the semi-finals after an impressive week in Cospicua.
Cholan Kayan, Leona Lee and Nadeem Dalvi all made their respective singles quarter-finals before losing to higher ranked players with Lee, Dalvi and Harper and Wakefield all losing to the eventual champions.
Harper and Wakefield did not drop a set en route to the last four, beating Norwegian qualifiers Andreas Roksvaag and Jonas Oesthassel 21-11 21-14 in the first round.
They then beat out Yann Orteu and Azmy Qowimuramadhoni of Switzerland 21-15 21-9 to reach the quarter-finals.
“My initial emotion was relief. Then it was pride. Proud of our resilience especially in the big points. 💪
“We feel like it has been coming. Every day we are consistent in our training and we are always giving our best. So we knew that one day it had to happen for us.” 🤩
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) April 6, 2024
There they faced a tougher test in the form of Bruno Carvalho and David Silva of Portugal but did enough to advance 21-18 21-16.
Flaatten and Rikheim took the first set 21-18 but Harper and Wakefield fought valiantly in the second with the Norwegians eventually triumphing 23-21.
Wakefield and Harper also took part in the mixed doubles, with Wakefield partnering Saffron Morris of Wales.
The two won their opening-round match 21-16 21-13 before losing to another Norwegian pair, the top seeds Oesthassel and Julie Abudsal 21-17 21-19.
Harper tasted defeat in the first round losing to Jaume Perez and Claudia Leal of Spain 21-16 21-12 alongside Aimie Whiteman of Wales.
In the women’s singles, Lee flew the flag for England going on a run to the last eight before losing to second seed Frederikke Lund of Denmark.
The first cohort of coaches are accepted onto the Performance Coach Programme, designed to support the development of coaches working with players within the junior pathway network. Read more here ⬇️https://t.co/RfsT8fB7Lk
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) April 5, 2024
Lee dispatched Lithuania’s Vilte Paulauskaite 21-6 21-7 in the first round before coming from behind to defeat Carla Dubois of France 17-21 21-5 21-12 in the second.
Up against Lund, Lee worked tirelessly before succumbing to a 21-18 21-18 defeat in the last eight.
Men’s singles sixth seed Dalvi had to beat two compatriots to advance to the quarter-finals.
In the opening round, he beat Charlie Castle 21-19 21-16 before coming through a tough test against Zack Bobrowski.
Bobrowski took the opening 21-18 before Dalvi fought back to win the next two 21-12 21-13 and book his place in the last eight.
There he faced the Austrian top seed Collins Valentine Filimon who triumphed 21-11 21-9.
Kayan headed to Malta as the eighth seed and reached the quarter-finals before losing to Wolfgang Gnedt.
When you get to meet your sporting hero 🤩🥰😭
Alice Wu is one of the 8 @teamGB mini mascots for Paris 2024 🇬🇧
What a day 🙌👌 pic.twitter.com/OUovcTv8xC
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) April 3, 2024
After a 21-14 23-21 win in the first round, Kayan breezed through to the last eight with a 21-14 21-8 win over Mathias Solgaard of Denmark.
Up against the Austrian fourth seed, Kayan forced a decider but ultimately suffered a 21-19 13-21 21-15 defeat.
